The defending Champions, Mumbai Indians, would surely be a happy and confident lot heading into a new season of the Women’s Premier League in 2026 after managing to get back most of the previous champions from the team at the Mega Auction in New Delhi on Thursday (November 27). 

Speaking about the thought process and the strategy at the table, Mrs. Nita M Ambani said, "Well, Auction days are really exciting but sometimes unnerving too. Our strategy was to win back as many players as possible from our winning team of 2025. I am very excited to get Amelia Kerr back and our four Ss: Shabnim (Ismail), Saika (Ishaque), Sajana (Sajeevan) and Sanskriti (Gupta).”

In addition to the retained core of captain Harmanpreet Kaur, Nat Sciver-Brunt, Hayley Matthews, Amanjot Kaur and G Kamalini, the five players bought back have been pivotal to MI’s successes in the past with Saika, Sajana and Sanskriti being breakout stars in the tournament after being discovered by MI and handed their debuts. In addition to the established names, MI onboarded the Australian duo of all-rounder Nicola Carey, a winner of multiple World Cups with Australia and young pace sensation Milly Illingworth. True to the policy of scouting and backing young Indian talent, MI rounded up a well-balanced squad by adding Indian all-rounders Nalla Reddy and Triveni Vasistha, who will be featuring in the WPL for the first time. The experienced duo of Madhya Pradesh captain Rahila Firdous and Poonam Khemnar will bring a lot of domestic experience to the side.

“We are very excited to welcome three young girls - Rahila, Nalla Reddy and Triveni. I take this opportunity to welcome Poonam Khemnar, Milly Illingworth and Nicola Carey into the Mumbai Indians family," she said.

“I’ve said this when our Indian girls won the World Cup for the first that, than when a girl child plays, every girl wins, every women wins. It sends out such a strong message to society at large. These girls have worked very hard, believed in themselves. A lot of sacrifices have gone by their families, by their coaches to reach where they are. Their stories are such an inspiration to all the millions of other girls. Many of them come from such humble backgrounds, like Amanjot, whose father is a carpenter, and Sajana, whose father is an autorickshaw driver.

“It sends out such a strong message that what boys can do, girls can do too. I am just so proud, it’s so emotional at this moment to see all these young girls coming in and making a name for themselves. I wish them the stars. All the best, and welcome to Mumbai Indians.”

Our two-time WPL-winning skipper, and India's World Cup winning captain Harmanpreet Kaur was making her debut at the auction table, adding her expertise to the auction table discussions and tactics.

Sharing her thoughts on her experience, Harmanpreet said, “Yeah, it was my first time at the Auction table. Initially I was very nervous but I loved the preparation. I really enjoyed the way we planned for this. I think everybody’s involvement, especially Nita Ma'am's involvement. She has always been our biggest support and always backs us. We have got most of our old teammates back so that shows what kind of trust and confidence we have in them. Hopefully, again this time we’ll win the cup

“We had so much faith in our players. That’s why we wanted all of them back in our side. And I’m really happy we stuck to whatever we had planned. That shows how much trust we have in our teammates. I am really happy as a captain. I should give credit to all our team members, the way we have been working hard for this Auction. I am very, very happy.”